“So, who do you like today?”
This is the tagline for some new promotional TV and radio spots that are being aired in the New York City Metropolitan area. They are trying to lure you to go to Belmont Park, which is the primo place for Thoroughbred Horse Racing in America. I’m not going to be writing about horse racing at Belmont Park or anyplace else today. But I do like that line, and I’m asking that question but about a different subject.
So if I say, “Do you like this one?” you’ll say, “Hell yes! When is it on?” These are the kinds of movies that if I show you just a single image, you would probably recognize the movie. How about this one?
That’s Robert De Niro as the young Vito Corleone from The Godfather Part II. He’s just pumped a round into the chest of the local head of the Sicilian Black Hand, Don Fanucci, who tried to extort some money from Vito and his friends. Fanucci had said, “You should let me wet my beak a little,” because he wanted to muscle himself in on the proceeds of a high-jacking done by our boys. Corleone told his friends he’d settle the matter; “I make an offer he don’t refuse.”
But it isn’t just the guns that we go for. Every once in a while there a great fight, without guns. Here’s Tom Cruise and Hiroyuki Sanada batting each other around in The Last Samurai. Let’s not forget Russell Crowe’s bravura performance in Gladiator.
Sometimes, it’s just the look of the guy; like the Indiana Jones character, as played by Harrison Ford. Was it the fedora or the distressed leather jacket that got to us, or was it the brashness of the character?
Maybe you like what a character stands for. How about Mel Gibson as William Wallace in Braveheart? His dying word in the movie was “Freedom!”. Or Liam Neeson as Rob Roy, another boy from the country who fought against the oppressive overlords?
That’s Robert De Niro as The Deer Hunter. Maybe you’ll have a better feel for the film if I show you this poster…
as in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or E.T. Yes, these are wonderful movies, and who knows if events like these will ever happen. But maybe the future will bring something terrifying as we saw in Independence Day.
Yeah, maybe there are other beings out there. What about this bloody baby picture of this fellow from Alien. He grew up to be anything but adorable
.Quite often, we have aliens in our midst, only they are aren’t from a different species. Instead they’re just from a different place on our own planet. Michael Douglas portrays a New York City cop in Osaka, Japan, in Black Rain. Arnold Schwartzenegger plays Moscow’s best detective transported to Chicago to work a case in Red Heat. Or in a different kind of movie, Tom Selleck is Mr. Baseball, who made a different kind of headline in Tokyo.
Just a few more. How about plain old man against man confrontations. Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men…,
… Al Pacino vs. Robert De Niro in Heat, Mel Gibson in the Mad Max films, Clint Eastwood vs legions of ‘Bad Guys’ in the Dirty Harry series, and our last entry in the category of Films Guys Love – The Matrix.
Is that it? Are those all of my favorites? Well no. We’ve barely scratched the surface. We’ll save some other movies that men love for another column. In the meantime, you can read some of the other articles on this site. They too represent videos that men love. From New York, this is JustMeMike, and that’s a wrap!
There are two entire genres missing: the War Movie and the Spy Thriller.
For the War Movie, it’s hard to beat “The Great Escape.”
“—there is not even a single speaking part for any woman in the whole film. It is a movie beloved by dads and uncles and teenage boys everywhere. ”
http://www.movie-vault.com/reviews/ZzdSofgKYnYqlloh
(watch for popups at that link)
And in Spy Thrillers, I would not share a beer with any “guy” who did not want to be Sean Connery’s James Bond.
rtpoe is correct of course. War Movies and Spy Thrillers are great genres. Just not included in this column. I believe I discussed some of the best War Movies here — http://www.bearchive.com/~rd/128aov00.htm
That was my next to last column with Al-The-Editor. It hit the net in March 2006. Still there for you to check out if you like.
The 007 Bond films were of course a super successful franchise. I also thought they did a wonderful job with the two Bourne films; The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Identity starring Matt Damon. And to an even lesser degree, the MIssion Impossible films were fun.
As I said in the article – this is only one column – there are many more films that guys love that didn’t get into the column. Thanks for reading the column.
JMM
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